Moccasin



July 27 1926. 1,594,309

E. A. LLEWELLYN ET AL MOGCASIN Filed Nov. 150, 1925 5a in.

to insure a strong and Patented July 27, 1926.

UNITED STATES 1,594,3t PATENT QFFECE.

ERNEST A. LLEWELLYN AND NEAL D. LEACH, 0F WILTON, MAINE, ASSIGNORS TO G. H. BASS & COMPANY, OF "WILTON, MAINE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

MOCCASIN.

Application filed November 30, 1925. Serial No. 72,151.

This invention relates to foot wear and more particularly to moccasins or shoe packs.

It has heretofore been the practice in moccasin or shoe pack manufacture to join the vamp and toe-piece or top portion of the upper by means of a hand or butt scam in which the toe-pieceand vamp are opposingly skived, butted with outwardly turned edges and sewed together by stitches passed intermediately through said butted edges, so as to show upon the outer surface of the vamp and toe-piece alike and giving an appearance of double stitching. This form of butt seam has proven to be neither strong nor tight, and apart from the liability to rip, the seam is liable to open up on either side so as to permit the entrance of dirt from without and moisture from within to find access to the threads of the hand or butt seam.

The objects of our invention are to provide a moccasin having a toe-piece attached thereto by a hand seam in such manner as durable water-proof connection between the vamp and the we piece that will effectually resist the tendency of the seam to open up under pressure and permit water and dirt to enter from the outside or moisture from within to find ac cess to the threads in said seam, and to reinlorce and strengthen said seam by a second seam through the vamp and a lapped portion of the toe-piece so concealed that the lap is not visible and does not present any surface projection which is liable to be scuif'ed off in service by contact with any obstacle and which is also objectionable in appearance, and its elimination renders the moccasin or shoe neater and more attractive in appearance than prior constructions with exposed lap seams.

The invention will first be hereinafter more particularly described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and then pointed out in the claims at the end of the description.

In said drawings, Fig. l is a perspective view of a moccasin constructed in accordance with our invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a broken away portion of a vamp and toepiece with the beveled edges of the two parts secured together by a single seam; the free edge of the toe-piece being extended on the interior of the moccasin so as to provide a concealed lap to be secured to the vamp by a second seam;

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view illustrating the method of skiving the adjacent edges of the vamp and toe-piece of a moccasin as heretofore constructed; and

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view illustrating the method of skiving the adjacent edges of the vamp'and toe-piece of a moccasin const-ructed in accordance with our invention.

Referring to the drawings, the shoe or moccasin is shown with the vamp 4 and a top or toe-piece 5 cut to a size suflicient for its toe forming edge to continuously underlie the adjacent toe forming edge of the vamp piece, said toe-piece in this instance providing the entire upper of the shoe. The meeting edges of the vamp and toe-piece, that is, the edges of the pieces which are intended to be sewn and secured together are shown correspondingly or complementarily skived or beveled at an oblique angle to a horizontal plane, such skiving of the toepiece around or along the toe forming edge being extended to provide a tapering butting apron or flap 5' which underlies the ad jacent edge of the vamp piece while the contiguous toe forming edge of the latter is more sharply and less extensively skived at substantially the same angle to provide a complementary butting edge 4 inversely disposed thereto. The vamp and top portions are next placed upon a last and the vamp is then gathered or drawn in and slightly buckled against the top portion or toe-piece, whereupon it is sewn securely to the latter by through stitching 6, that is, the toe-piece and vamp, after being properly skived, are mutually extended or outwardly buckled against each other for the stitching operation in which the stitches are passed transversely through the meeting skived edges of vamp and toe-piece, thus giving a neat and symmetrical appearance to the seamed joint therebetween; such stitching with respect to the toe-piece being effected at the thickest point of its edge or at a point somewhat remote from the thinner portion of said edge, so as to leave an extended or greater portion of the tapered edge providing the apron or flap 5 to underlie the aforesaid seam and an adjacent portion of the vamp. It will, be noted that the stitching 6 does not penetrate or pass entirely through the toe-piece from its outer to its inner surface, butonly' from its outer surface to and'through its skived edge, thus leaving the inner surface unmarred and unpierced, and the apron or flap portion 5 covers and conceals thejoint the threads of the seam on the inside of the moccasin so that moisture from the outside cannot pass along the thread to the inside of the shoe, as would otherwise result from the well known tendency of the thread to carry moisture, and the threads are also unexposed to moisture from within. The advantages of such a joint and seam in this respect are obvious. The two parts having been firmly united by the single seam, there remains free and unattached a tapering or extended lower marginal portion of said toe-piece forming the flap 5 which projects over the lower or inner skived edge of the vamp and over the lower portionof the stitching (5 on the in side, and the free ed e of this flap is secured to the vamp by second seam 6 The second seam is preferably sewed with a machine using a waxed thread and a lock stitch, but may be sewn by other types of machines or by hand. It will be hereinafter referred to as the second or machine seam. The described construction has the followin points of advantage: At the hand seam con ecting the vamp and toe-piece, the meeting edges of each are skived or beveled at substantially the same angle, and their opposing surfaces therefore lie naturally in full contact with each other, and the seam thus formed is strong and tight, eti'ectively resisting pressure to open the seam up whether applied from the outside or inside. The second or machine seam reinforces and strengthens the hand seam, first in'resisting a direct pull at right angles to the line of the seam, and second in holding the gathered fullness (pucker) of the vamp securely to the projecting flap of the toe-piece and thereby entirely relieving the hand seam from the strain of holding the pucker of the vamp, which strain being in thenature of a shear is serious cause of ripping of the ordinary hand seam. The downward projecting flap on the toe-piece when stitched to the vamp by the second seam effectively closes any possible opening in the hand seam, thus making it impossible for dirt, dust or water entering at the hand seam to reach the foot, and also impossible for any perspiration or other moisture from the inside to reachthe thread of the-hand seam. The downwardly and inwardly projecting flap on the toe-piece, being on the inside of the vamp, is protected from wear when the moccasin is scufi 'ed against brush or other obstacles; this being a serious source'of trouble on overlapping toe-pieces as we have learned by experiment and experience, and being out of sight it gives the moccasin a much trimmer and neater appearance.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A moccasin comprising-a toe-piece and a vamp havin 'the meeting edges thereof skived orbeveied so as to present inclinedsurfaces extending'along substantially parallel lines at an angle to a horizontal plane; said toe-piece and vamp being gathered and secured together by a seam or row oi stitches passing through the marginal portions or meeting edges thereof from the upper outer side of the toe-piece to a point below the upper outer edge of the vamp; said toe-piece having a reduced downwardly projecting extension forming a fiap which underlies said stitches and the joint between said meeting edges and is concealed on the inner side 01 the vamp and secured thereto by a lap seam reinforcing the first nained'seam.

2. A moccasin comprising a toe-piece and a vamp having the meeting edges thereo" skived or beveled so as to present inclined surfaces extending along substantially. parallel lines at an angle to a horizontal plane; said toe-piece and vamp being gathered and secured together by a seam or row of stitches passing through the marginal portions or meeting edges thereof from the upper outer side of the toe-piece to a point below the upper outer edge of the vamp; the edge of the toe-piece being extended downwardly and inwardly so as to overlap the joint and protect said seam on the inner side o'lE-the moccasin; the said edge being secured to the vamp by a lap-seam reinforcing the first named seam, and said surfaces thus joined tog'eether extending the full length of the inclined'edge of the vamp along substantially parallel lines in approximately a verti'eal plane and without leaving any projection on the outer side of the moccasin that may be scuffed oil and producing an attractive and finished appearance.

In testimony whereof we atlix our signatures.

ERNEST A. LLEWELLYN.

NEAL n. LEAGH. 

